WOLF VOSTELL (Leverkusen, Germany 1932 - Berlin, 1998).
Untitled, 1992, from the series "Olympic Suite".
Lithograph on 270 grams Vélin d'Arches paper, copy 220/250.
Signed and justified by hand.
Size: 90 x 63 cm.
The Olympic Suite is made up of 50 lithographs and serigraphs chosen to represent various contemporary artistic trends. It was published to commemorate the first centenary of modern Olympism. The artists chosen work in very diverse movements and styles, from the hyperrealism of Antonio López to the abstraction of Sol Lewitt, including abstract expressionism, the geometrism of Arden Quin, conceptual art, pop art, the new realism of Baldaccini and Rotella, and the new fauvism of Dokoupil, among others. Among the artists represented there are creators of great international renown, widely recognised by the critics.
Wolf Vostell began his training in Cologne, where he studied painting, photography and lithography, and then entered the Wuppertal academy of free painting and experimental typography. In 1955 he moved to Paris to study painting and printmaking at the Ecole Supérieure Nationale des Beaux-Arts. He then continued his training at the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf. Vostell coined the term "dé-coll/age" for his particular creative juxtaposition of elements, which he applied both to his works, which included shreds of posters, smudged photographs and objects, and to his actions, the first of which took place in 1954 in Wuppertal. His work is marked by the aesthetics of destruction, the fruit of his experience of war, a language with which he sought to capture the aggressive and negative character of the contemporary world. His work continues to evolve: a pioneer of video art, in the 1970s he incorporated concrete as a key element in his work. His work can be found in the museum that bears his name in the province of Cáceres, the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and in other collections, both public and private.